As TNT previously announced the upcoming seventh season of The Closer is expected to be the final year of the show, but being that it’s TNT’s biggest hit, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to learn that the network is looking into keeping it on the air just a little bit longer and is also considering a spinoff series. Deadline reports that the network wants to tack on six additional episodes to the seventh season (from 15 to 21) but is also considering continuing it without Sedgwick, or by launching a new spinoff series:

Among the scenarios currently discussed at TNT is super-sizing the 15-episode seventh and final season to 21-episodes with an order for 6 extra episodes. That, of course, is contingent on a deal with Sedgwick, whose contract is up at the end of Season 7. Additionally, the cable network is eying a possible 9-episode order for a new series, either The Closer sans Sedgwick in the mold of the transition on NBC’s comedy The Office after the pending exit of star Steve Carell, or a spinoff series featuring characters from The Closer in a new setting. (The latter will probably be a little easier to pull off as Sedgwick plays the title character in the original series.)

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Additionally, a potential order for 6 more episodes of The Closer along with 9 for a successor series would make a combined 15-episode run, giving TNT another full season to play with that would include a highly-rated 6-episode conclusion of The Closer starring Sedgwick segueing into the show without her. Sedgwick, who in August won her first Emmy for playing Deputy Police Chief Brenda Johnson, had said that she wanted to move on after the end of her current contract for The Closer.